An excellent initiative has recently been launched jointly by the Baptist, Methodist & United Reformed Churches, alongside Church Action On Poverty.

Faith In Foodbanks includes resources for worship services, small group Bible study, podcasts by food parcel recipients & more.
It looks at the reasons for the rise in food poverty, deals with some of the questions raised in the current political/media debate, and gives the Biblical viewpoint on caring for the poor.

We will certainly be using it as a resource ourselves!

For more information, go to this website link:
http://www.jointpublicissues.org.uk/faithinfoodbanks/

We have just completed our annual statistics, which have confirmed an enormous increase in need across our City.
For the year April 2013-March 2014:
Referrals responded to:4156
Total no. of individuals receiving food/toiletries:9394
Total Adults(16+):6098
Total Children:3296

We never celebrate the struggles people are going through, but do celebrate the love,goodness & faithfulness of God in answering prayer. This is His project, His idea, His work, His concern for those in financial struggles, for whatever reason. We can recommend Him as the very best CEO!

As we look back over the past year, we are also overwhelmed by the generosity of the many Churches, Schools, Businesses & individuals across the City who have chosen to share what they have to help others they don’t know. Our abiding memory will be the ‘mountain’ of food & toiletries that came in at Harvest Festival, and didn’t seem to diminish until just before Christmas!

During 2013 The Well has been enabled to provide food parcels/toiletries & baby items to a total of:
8740- Individuals
5764- Adults
2976- Children

As we close for the Christmas break we are overwhelmed with thankfulness….

-to Jesus Christ who told us to start the project (because He knew what was coming economically & has compassion or those in need) and has sustained it and brought increase during the year
-to everyone who has supported the project in prayer & faith, kind thoughts & words
-to our amazing volunteer team & Trustees/Directors
-to every church, school, business, organisation & supermarket who have organised collections/sent groups of volunteers to us
-to every individual who has so generously given donations of food & finance
-to His Church charity who work so hard and stand in faith, enabling us to receive pallets of fabulous food & household supplies
-to UCB Media for the Book of Hope that is given to every child & young person who receives a parcel
-to InKind Direct & Fareshare charities from where we have also received supplies at low cost
-to all our partner referral agencies across the City who have helped us to ensure the food gets to those in most need
-to anyone else who we have forgotten! 🙂

The words in a Christmas card we have received from a family who received a food parcel are for you all:‘To Everyone, I just want to say thankyou. Without people so kind like all of you we would be going without so thankyou all again & have a great Christmas.’

To those who have received parcels via The Well, we pray that 2014 will bring better days for you-never give up hope, for the God of all hope loves you & knows you by name.

MAY ALL OF YOU KNOW THE LOVE & PEACE OF CHRIST THIS CHRISTMAS & IN 2014.

As a team, we are often thanked for the work we do, and no more so than in the lead up to Christmas.

Earlier this month, the phrase came to mind that we are simply ‘Couriers for the King’s Love.’…You know what it’s like when you get a courier delivery – after you’ve managed to scrawl something that resembles your signature (or not!) on their handheld machines, the courier whizzes off to their next drop. You don’t remember their name or what they look like as you eagerly open the parcel.

In the same way, The Well, like many other food projects across the City, is not focussed on our recognition, but on people receiving the free gift of Jesus’ love through the food & toiletries in the parcels.

For Christians, Christmas is all about remembering and celebrating the truth that ‘God SO loved the world that He gave His only Son, Jesus.’ This is the ultimate expression of His deep and never ending love for the whole world.
We read this recently about Jesus being born in a place of poverty – a stable:
The‘No vacancy’ signs over all the hotels in Bethlehem were for your sake. ‘For your sake He (Jesus) became poor so that you might become rich’(2 Corinthians 8:9)

….Rich in love, peace, hope, joy, and eternal life.

So to all of you who have had any connection with The Well during 2013-to those who have given and to those who have received-our prayer over you today is that each of you may you be blessed with knowing the richness that only Christ can bring this Christmas and in 2014.

We are receiving lots of offers of support in the lead up to Christmas. People across our wonderful City want to bless others less fortunate, which is a fabulous thing. So here is how you can support the work of The Well this Christmas.

Supermarket Tokens
Both Asda & Waitrose have chosen The Well as 1 of their 3 nominated charities for the green tokens if you would like to support us in this way when you shop there.

What an AMAZING Harvest Festival season it has been for The Well.
A total of 6826.05 kgs of food was donated between September & November from 56 schools, churches,and community organisations.
Words can’t express our thanks to every adult and child who donated.
Each tin and packet a precious expression of love, compassion and generosity.
So here is our roll call to honour all you do which enables us to do all we do!

The Team are getting ready for donations of prize marrows, onions and leeks over the next few weeks as schools, churches & other groups celebrate Harvest!
We have already received invitations to speak at 3 school assemblies and our first harvest collection is this coming Tuesday from Blakenhall Resource Centre.
If you are planning a harvest festival with The Well in mind, our shopping list can be downloaded here: http://thewellwolverhampton.co.uk/shopping-list-pdf/
Please email us to arrange collection, or if you prefer to deliver it to the warehouse, a map & opening times can be downloaded here:http://thewellwolverhampton.co.uk/donate-supplies/
It really helps us if only food in date can be donated…we had to throw away quite a lot last year due to it being past the Best Before End date which is such a shame.
There will be a lot of singing ‘we plough the fields and scatter’ in the warehouse as the team sort out all the food ready to give to the many people in across our city who are struggling financially during these challenging times.